Canadian P2P Usage Declining?

According to a major survey on music copying recently conducted by Reseau Circum for the Canadian Private Copying Collective, file-sharing activity is on a steady decline in Canada.

The survey was part of evidence submitted before the Copyright Board of Canada yesterday as it conducted hearings on Canada’s private copying levy. The private copying levy is tax imposed on recordable media and media players to compensate copyright holders for the presumed “losses” they suffer from copies made of their original product.

Briefly, the levied taxes are as follows (from wikipedia):

Canada’s current levies are as follows: $0.29 per unit for Audio Cassette tape (40min or longer); $0.77 per unit for CD-R Audio, CD-RW-Audio & MiniDisc; $0.21 per unit for CD-R, CD-RW (non audio).
On December 17th, 2004, a Canadian judge ruled that the blank media tax no longer applied to MP3 players such as Apple Computer’s iPod. Before this, the rates were $2 for players.

What the interesting part about the hearings was that it allowed for this private survey, conducted in June 2006 apparently, to shed light on the current state of file-sharing in Canada. Additionally, the findings completely contradict the total doom and gloom scenario that music companies and artists would make you believe is happening.

Here are some of the findings:

Have you downloaded a song in the past 12 months?

12-17yo = 39%; 18-25yo = 29%; 26-45 = 13%; >46yo = 3%

Have you ever used a file-sharing service (yes)?

12-17yo = 69%, 18-25 = 64%

How many songs downloaded from the Internet reside on your PC?

35% = 0; 26% = 1-50; 17% = 51-250; 17% = 251 or more

How many songs have you obtained from P2P services in the previous month?

29% = 0; 54% = 1-50; 9% = more than 51

How may songs have you downloaded from commercial download sites such as iTunes?

67% = 0; 19% = 1-50

All of the figures noted in the survey above are in marked decline as compared to the previous survey done in 2002 which showed much higher figures for number of songs downloaded and also P2P usage. Furthermore, as Michael Geist points out, “…just 14 percent of Canadians have downloaded music in the last 12 months, down from 15 percent in 2005, 19 percent in 2004, 21 percent in 2003, and 21 percent in 2002.”

Another interesting point is that just 9% of respondents who purchased less music in the last 12 months blamed P2P as the reason why. So simply put, that’s 91% who would most likely cite lousy music at artificially inflated prices. Could it be having to pay 20 bucks for 2 good songs?

So with all of this data to the contrary why is the CRIA still saying that Canada is a top hub of file-sharing? Maybe because it’s easier to blame the decline in music sales on somebody or something other than their own choice of pricing and selection of artists.

Related Posts

1. Canadian File Sharing Legal Eh?
2. Canadian iPod ‘tax’ not legal
3. Top Canadian court turns down bid for extra tax on IPods, MP3 players
4. Napster heads north for Canadian service
5. “Let’s Raise CD-R Taxes to Support Music Artists” say Canadians.